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More NooKa than BooCa

Our fallen beer is back. The names have changed and, so far, so has the beer. The newest version of the age-old New Knoxville Brewing Company delivered kegs of its first batch late last week to Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria in the Old City. Reviews of its Pale Ale have been mixed, but the India Pale Ale has been met with resounding disapproval. On ordering the IPA at Barley’s, one server crinkled her face and advised against it, saying “It sucks, and I’m an IPA fan.”

She did bring a sample of the beer, and though it didn’t necessarily suck, it just wasn’t the same. Downtown Grill and Brewery’s brewmaster Al Krusen likened brewing to baking a cheesecake, saying that a difference of ingredients will affect the outcome and that he knew that New Knoxville’s new brewmaster is using a different yeast than he used during his time at New Knoxville. Nevertheless, Krusen welcomes the local brewery. We do, too. We’re looking forward to the second batch.

Greek Fest Goes to Town

For the last couple of decades, the annual Greek Festival, a three-day celebration of Greek food, drink, dancing, and art, has been one of Knoxville’s most popular ethnic festivals. Once held in the spring, more recently in the fall, it’s always been at the same place: in the parking lot behind St. George’s, the Greek Orthodox Church on Kingston Pike near Sequoyah Hills.

The appeal of the festival was testament to the fact that so many attendees put up with the logistics of getting there: attending required walking down one side of busy Kingston Pike without a sidewalk; crossing busy Kingston Pike without a light; or parking at a distant shopping center and riding an ad-hoc bus, hoping its unpublished schedule would suit yours.

We have it on good authority that this year will be different; the Greek Festival will come earlier, for one thing, the last weekend of August, partly to coordinate with the Olympics, which are returning to their native Greece this summer. More surprisingly, perhaps, is that the festival will be held downtown, at the World’s Fair Park. (Say what you will about downtown parking, but it’s much easier to park a few thousand people downtown than at St. George’s.) We hesitate to call this one the first downtown Greek Festival, because the Greek celebrations have downtown roots—by some accounts, Knoxville’s Greek festivals, before World War II, were held on Gay Street.

Greens Here, Sushi There

Two new specialty restaurants grace downtown streets. Field of Greens, the long-awaited salad shop at 205 Union Ave., in the brightly redecorated space most recently occupied by Tortilla Mac before it moved to the 700 block of Gay Street, is going great guns. Matthew Patin, the proprietor, says the salads are selling well, particularly the Seven Layer salad that he brought along from the Patin family’s Fountain City Creamery. Salads with a meat or meats, including chicken, shrimp, smoked pork, bacon and tuna, go for $6.75. The vegetarian versions are $4.99 each.

Opening within a week, according to owner Gregg White, is Rama, a sushi bar in the 100 block of Gay. The original manager of Preservation Pub and a downtown resident, he bills the place on its signage as “A Gregg White Experience.” That’s promising. His other ventures around Knoxville have all been appealing.

South Knoxville Redoubt

The next meeting of the Metropolitan Planning Commission—July 8, at 1:30 p.m. in the City County building’s main assembly room—may feature a battle over what some locals believe is a piece of Civil War history in danger of being bulldozed and developed as condos.

The Rose property located near Cherokee Trail in South Knoxville is under consideration for rezoning from low density residential and single-family residential to accommodate some 300 or more condominiums. At least a dozen members of the Knoxville Civil War Round Table and other concerned recruits plan to attend the meeting and ask MPC to postpone its ruling on the grounds that trenches on the property are historic sites occupied by soldiers during that unpleasantness.

According to Tim Duff who represents Dovetail Development seeking the zoning change, MPC has previous determined that those trenches were parts of Jim Rose’s garden and not Civil War trenches.

The local Round Table is actively involved in preserving and developing as a viable tourist destination nearby Fort Dickerson, the last remaining undesecrated open fort in the Southeast. The non-profit group has purchased three steel, 4,000-pound, non-firing cannons, one of which is already in place at the fort; the other two will be situated at the fort this month.

July 8, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 28 © 2004 Metro Pulse